JOE BIDEN TO VISIT LATVIA AND SWEDEN NEXT WEEK: The U.S. vice president’s stop in Turkey has been getting all the attention, but starting Monday August 22 he’ll also join a summit in Riga with the leaders of of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, meet Latvian President Raimonds Vējonis and Prime Minister Māris Kučinskis, deliver a speech, and meet in Stockholm with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.

MIGRATION — WHY SLOVAKIA WON’T EMBRACE MULTICULTURALISM: Few EU nations have opposed a continental approach to the migration crisis more than Slovakia, and the country’s six-month presidency of the Council of the EU is coinciding with a period of resurgent nationalism and heightened xenophobia, reports Davide Lerner.

“Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico drew the ire of his European colleagues when he pledged that Slovakia will only take Christian migrants and, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris, vowed to monitor ‘each and every Muslim’ in the country. He has also sued the EU over compulsory quotas for resettling refugees and promised to ‘never bring a single one to Slovakia.'” More on why Slovakia will not accept multiculturalism: http://politi.co/2bjbsEt

MIGRATION — BY THE NUMBERS: Refugee death rates are high, but arrivals lower than in 2015. UNHCR: http://bit.ly/2biK0qz

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TALKING POINT … BANNING BURQAS AND BURQA-LIKE SWIMSUITS:Several French towns have banned the full body swimsuits known as burkinis, including Cannes, which now issues a €38 fine for wearing one. Germans have also found themselves in a major debate on the issue. “The full-face veil … does not comply with Germany, and we reject it,” said Peter Tauber, general secretary of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, yesterday. Germany’s President Joachim Gauck has dismissed a burqa ban. WATCH: http://bit.ly/2bzUUKm

SPAIN — EL PAIS SLAMS ‘IRRESPONSIBLE’ SOCIALISTS: “The PSOE cannot be [the party] responsible for a blockade that passes back to Spaniards a duty that MPs elected on June 26 must fulfill,” says El País, the Spanish global newspaper of record, in an editorial. The paper says the Socialists can form the opposition or force the country to a third election, but “the worst option of all is this suicidal silence that condemns the PSOE inexorably to irrelevance.” Read more here: http://bit.ly/2buwzEz

FRANCE — CABINET’S BATTLE ROYAL UPENDS EU FOOD POLICY: “A duel in the highest ranks of French government is shaking up Europe’s food and farming sector, turning the Continent’s political tide against chemical herbicides and pesticides used by most farmers,” writes Nicholas Vinocur. “The protagonists are in President François Hollande’s inner circle: Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll, his best friend in government; and Energy and Environment Minister Ségolène Royal, who also happens to be the mother of his four children.” More on the battle Royal here: http://politi.co/2aZCu1R

RUSSIA CORNER …

GERMAN, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS CALL FOR CALM: Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sergei Lavrov yesterday met in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg to discuss the escalating situation in Crimea. Steinmeier said: “We call on everyone to de-escalate.” http://bit.ly/2aVXtX1

HOW THE GERMAN-RUSSIAN POW-WOW PLAYED IN DENMARK: The Politiken newspaper in an editorial called Frank-Walter Steinmeier a member of Berlin’s “Gazprom fraction of wimps.” http://bit.ly/2biEpAy

TROUBLE ON THE HORIZON: Teneo Intelligence, in a new analysis, predicts: “The security situation in eastern Ukraine may deteriorate sharply … likely both due to the forthcoming 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence on 24 August and the expected diversion of attention of the international media and policy-makers due to the Olympics. Fighting will likely focus on areas surrounding Donetsk and Mariupol.”

RUSSIA CLAIMS PROGRESS IN RELIEVING ALEPPO: Russia’s defense minister said Monday that Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement that would help defuse the situation in the besieged Syrian city Aleppo. A United States spokesperson contradicted the claim but would not elaborate to reporters. Vladimir Isachenkov http://apne.ws/2bivnVF

HOW PUTIN MANIPULATES SECURITY CRISES: The Russian president is a master at using security crises to his own advantage, writes Maxim Trudolybov for the Moscow Times. The latest accusations leveled against the Ukrainian government, of acting like terrorists in Crimea, have put Angela Merkel and François Hollande on the backfoot, he writes. http://bit.ly/2aUAupS

UK — BORIS JOHNSON IN CHARGE: With Theresa May scaling the Alpine mountains, BoJo is now the most senior minister left in the U.K. More here from the BBC: http://bbc.in/2b6pFUZ

UK — BIG ECONOMIC DATA WEEK KICKS OFF: The first hard national indicator data since the Brexit referendum is rolled out this week, starting with the inflation rate today. Bloomberg http://bloom.bg/2b9OUVx

UK — HARD LEFT’S LABOUR TAKEOVER CONTINUES: On top of the support he has from new members who’ve signed up since he became leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the embattled Labour leader, has secured the support of 84 percent of local party groups. Jessica Elgot has more: http://bit.ly/2aWtITr

GERMANY — IS A BLACK-GREEN COALITION COMING? Bild newspaper is keen on it, assessing that much of what Merkel wants to achieve between now and the 2017 election will depend on Green Party support. http://bit.ly/2btyhTP

GERMANY — BUNDESBANK WANTS PENSION AGE LIFTED TO 69: Don’t worry (or do if a balanced budget is your top priority), they suggest phasing the change in over the next 35 years. http://bbc.in/2b6w96m

GREECE — FINES FOR ‘LETTERBOX COMPANIES’ IN CYPRUS, BULGARIA: The Greek finance ministry is cracking down on companies that register themselves in Bulgaria or Cyprus to avoid paying taxes. More here (in Greek): http://bit.ly/2buG2Ma

CZECH REPUBLIC — THE FORMER COAL BARON FALLING FOUL OF CZECH POLITICS: The name Zdeněk Bakala may not ring a bell, but in the Czech Republic, Bakala is a celebrity. A banker and media mogul, Bakala became one of the country’s richest men by taking a contrarian bet on investing in coal. That is until his company was declared insolvent earlier this year. Now Bakala is the object of increasingly bitter political attacks. A profile, from Benjamin Cunningham: http://politi.co/2bjcf8F

CROATIA — FOREIGN MINISTER ACCUSES SERBIANS OF BEING HATE-MONGERS: It’s not the first time a minister has resorted to extreme language in the region, but labeling your neighbors “on-call hate-mongers” is hardly common. More on Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovač’s comments here: http://bit.ly/2bk8g95

KOSOVO — MITROVICA BRIDGE TO REOPEN: Renovation works have begun on the bridge that separates the Serb-dominated north and largely Albanian south of the divided northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica. http://bit.ly/2bbK4oN

NORWAY — POLITICAL GET-TOGETHER AT ARENDAL: The northern European mania for extended political festivals continues to spread. This week it’s Norway’s turn, with around 50,000 people expected to gather at the coastal city of Arendal to take part in 550 seminars. According to Playbook reader Paal Frisvold, Norwegians are now divided on whether Britain is Norway’s friend or foe in the lonely outskirts of Europe. Geelmuyden Kiese, a communication agency, will host a debate on “Brexit from the other side: threat or opportunity for the EEA?” http://bit.ly/2aP6GPU

TERRORISM — ISIL’S ASIAN EXPANSION: Southeast Asia could become ISIL’s next base, as the terrorist organization seeks to expand its operations outside of the Middle East and North Africa. Paul Ehrlich reports on the ISIL-inspired organizations gaining ground in the region. http://politi.co/2bj2JUg

US 2016 — TRUMP LABELED ‘SELF-DESCRIBED BILLIONAIRE:’ No less than the New York Times is now calling out Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns by labeling him a “self-described billionaire.” It also turns out Trump has never met or spoken to his main economic adviser, Peter Navarro, explains Orange County Register’s Margot Roosevelt. http://bit.ly/2bh8D8u

SPACE — EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY TARGETS OCTOBER LANDING ON MARS: The Schiaparelli module will act as a weather station, and should be followed in 2020 by a rover module that will actively search for life on Mars. Stuart Clark, http://bit.ly/2biANQ6

DIGITAL — EU-US ‘PRIVACY SHIELD’ OFF TO A SLOW START: Only 34 companies have signed up to the data transfer agreement. The list is headed by Microsoft and Salesforce. Here’s the whole list: http://bit.ly/2agCBUD

DIGITAL — NOKIA PHONES WILL BE RELAUNCHED BY PRODIGAL SON: HMD Global Oy, a new Finnish company looking to relaunch the Nokia brand for phones, said on Monday it has hired Pekka Rantala, the former CEO of Angry Birds maker Rovio, as its chief marketing officer. Tuomas Forsell: http://reut.rs/2bizPnb